I learned I had Stage III breast cancer the day before my daughter's first birthday, back in June 2002. In what now seems like an instant, I was thrown off course from my plan to have 4 kids, 2 years apart. I now faced surgery, 8 rounds of chemo 3 weeks apart, and 6 weeks of radiation. My hopes of having a big family faded into the background and I focused on staying alive to see my daughter grow up. As I neared the magical 5-year anniversary since diagnosis, I dared to ask about the possibility of having another child. To my surprise, my oncologist stood by me and gave me a reprieve off tamoxifen to conceive another child. In May 2006, my son was born. I breastfed exclusively for 12 months with one breast, and he is a happy healthy 3 year-old now. I then decided to try to fulfill my original dream of having 4 kids and jumped on the roller coaster once more. In December 2007 I became pregnant again. Because of my pregnancy, I was on a quarterly check-up schedule, as opposed to the annual one which I had graduated to under normal circumstances. During the third trimester check, my oncologist detected a minuscule growth on my scar line. Sadly, it was a local recurrence, but thankfully, we detected quickly enough that it has been removed with clear margins. I just hope that anyone out there who has just been diagnosed and is thinking there is no hope for kids, that you see my story and realize there is all kinds of hope. Even though I had a recurrence, I think my pregnancy is what saved my life (thanks to the frequency of my visits to the oncologist), and I would do it all over again if given the choice! |
